2 kids hurt in 'bounce house'

Two boys, 5 and 6 years old, are seriously hurt when wind gust takes house airborne

Bryan Fitzgeral, Times Union

By Bryan Fitzgerald

Updated 8:12 am, Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Two young boys were seriously injured when the inflatable abounce house,a pictured, was caught by a gust of wind Monday while they played inside. According to witnesses the children had already fallen out by the time it was photographed flying through the air above South Glens Falls Middle School by student Emily Boucher (Emily Boucher via poststar.com)

Gifford said one of the boys was found in a parking lot about 20 feet from where the bounce house sailed into the air. The other boy was 70 feet away, Gifford said. The bounce house landed a few hundred yards from where it took off, narrowly missing power lines.

"We consider this to be a tragic accident," Gifford said. No criminal charges are expected.

The bounce house was lifted off the ground around 3:30 p.m. at an apartment complex on Ferry Boulevard.

Gifford said the house, a Little Tikes brand, about 8 feet by 8 feet, was staked to the ground and adults were around when the wind took it into the air.

A picture taken by a witness and posted on the Post-Star's website shows the colorful bounce house high in the sky. The photo was taken by South Glens Falls student Emily Boucher as she was getting ready for a lacrosse game at the Middle School, the Glens Falls daily newspaper reported. Her family gave The Post-Star exclusive rights to use the photo, and proceeds of its sale to other media outlets will be donated by the Bouchers to the families of the injured boys.

The National Weather Service said there were no unusually strong winds in the area on Monday. The peak wind gust in the Northern Saratoga County and Southern Warren County area Monday was 24 mph, which was recorded in Glens Falls, the weather service said.

The bounce house, made by Little Tikes of Hudson, Ohio, was much smaller than those often rented for parties. It was owned by a resident of the apartments where the incident occurred, police said.

On its website, Little Tikes sells a variety of bounce houses ranging in price from about $100 to $500.

In a statement, Jennifer Campana, a Little Tikes spokeswoman, said, "Providing safe and wholesome play experiences is of utmost importance to Little Tikes. We are looking into what happened in South Glen Falls yesterday. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers are with the children and their families."

Similar incidents are unusual but not unheard of. In 2011, 13 children were hurt when the wind lifted three bounce houses off the ground at a party in Nassau County. Earlier that year, the same thing happened in two separate incidents in Arizona, according to news reports.